Disclaimer: This article is not aimed at every barista, food service worker, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc. I have had many pleasant experiences with many food service workers at many locations. This is a personal note to those food worker employees that think skipping corners come with zero consequences. In addition, when I say barista, I mean to address those specific food service workers, servers, baristas, etc. mentioned above.
First, let me say "Hello," because I know your job is exhausting and stressful and sometimes you forget little things. However, the thing is, this topic is so, so, so much more important than you can imagine, so let me just say when I request soy or almond milk instead of regular milk, I am not trying to act cool or hipster!
Do you think I enjoy the taste of soymilk?
Does anyone? I don't think so.
Do you seriously think I like drinking my green tea latte with a hint of "this tastes off?"
No, I do not.
However, I have come to peace with myself that either I spend my life on the toilet or I drink soymilk. So why, do you (dear employee) make it 10 times harder for my gut to process? If I got to the hospital with bad bubble guts, who is going to pay my medical bill? Is it going to be you? No, it is me, the victim AND the wallet. I really don't understand what is so hard about reaching a little further in the back of the fridge to get the holy almond milk.
Nevertheless, this issue is so much more beyond you and me. See, you're very lucky, fellow barista/food employee because your disservice to me is only a quarter of how bad it can be for someone else with a much deadlier and more violent case of food intolerance or allergy. According to the FDA, there are about 15 million Americans who have food allergies, a third of which are children. This is only one country; that is a lot of people, dear Barista.
I have heard the horror stories from multiple people; a friend of mine has a very bad lactose intolerance due to stomach ulcers and when she was released from the hospital, she was given a list of foods she couldn't eat due to the levels of acidity or something similar.
About a week later she went to Starbucks with some friends and requested soymilk in her Frappuccino. The barista completely ignored her request and put regular milk in her drink without notifying my friend first. Cut to an hour later at the hospital, the barista was fired on the spot for being careless and my friend was in the hospital for another month trying to fix the issues with her already damaged stomach.
Another story comes from Minnesota where a 16-year-old boy died after having an allergic reaction to the dairy in IHOP pancakes. The boy and his family specifically asked for dairy free pancakes and he was told by the staff that he could be served dairy free pancakes. Hours after he had consumed them, he was rushed to the hospital and died because of the negligence of the server and the chefs. According to his mother, his epi pen wasn't enough to save him.
As someone who used to work at a food service company that overemphasized itself on "dietary friendly food" and underemphasized itself on training its workers on how to handle precautions of said dietary needs, I once had a woman come in asking if our cookies were sugar-free. Many employees could just say "yes" without a single thought, but I asked my manager.
Upon further investigation, he and I discovered that the self-proclaimed "sugar-free cookies" were not sugar-free in the slightest. When we informed this woman, she declared that she was diabetic, if I had served her those cookies, she may have gotten very sick. It would be like giving someone who is addicted to nicotine a cigarette, but not knowing about his or her addiction.
The fact is, you as a server, cashier, barista or whatever; you don't know anything about your customer other than what they are ordering. Therefore, when they give you a request or ask a dietary specific question like "Does it have nuts?" "Is there anything gluten-free?” "Can I have soy milk?" Don't take the matter lightly.
Would you serve a vegetarian a meat burger and say it's a veggie burger? No. So when someone asks for soymilk, or almond milk, sugar, or sugar-free, decaffeinated or diet, or whatever do not act like you are above them. And if in fact, dear barista, that a person is trying to be healthy and change their lifestyle, I have no idea why you could possibly think you hold some proclaimed ability to judge that person, or to police or question their food choices when they are simply trying to live a better life.
So here's a little final note to take with you every time someone requests soymilk instead of regular milk: "Leave any selfish opinions at home and just do your job."
